Star Wars Fanfiction: Scavenger
by Mikep987654321
Summary: This is the first scene (approx. 1,400 words) of a short story set in the Star Wars universe. I have the outline completed, and I'll continue to write up scenes as time permits. I'd like feedback-positive and negative. Are the characters flat? Is the story boring? How's the pacing? etc. (If you stopped reading before reaching the end, I'd like to know where and why.) Thanks.


Heavy wind blew from the direction of the setting suns, caressing the desert and carrying the odors of metal and rubber and rust from ages long forgotten. Senneresta ignored the frosty blasts of air tingling her flesh as she anchored a tarp over the day's forage. After a cursory check of the cables attaching the rig, she situated herself into her landspeeder and started for the city at full speed, hoping to beat the night; nocturnal raiders in these parts were known to kill just for a _peek_ at a scavenger's loot.

The city grew against the horizon. Periodically she'd examine the landscape, scanning for strange glares or changes in the geography. Her heart raced. Sweat like ice water soaked her hair and clothes. A cardinal rule among scavengers was to never stay still for too long. _Always be on the move. _Because all a raider needed was one lucky shot. Then again, even that rule wasn't much comfort at times. Bost and Delborian got tagged by Sand People while on swoop bikes - and those go twice the speed of her scrappy ride.

It was a grueling life, filled with danger and near-death, cursed with loneliness, laced in spiky desperation.

And she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Why should she? She was her own person. She slept when she wanted to, ate what she wanted to, worked and played according to her own dictates. No employer to complain about a poor performance. No worry about getting on the bad side of a slave master. No commanding officer yapping orders, no mouths to feed, no spouse to please. Not even Senate members knew her freedom, the freedom of a lowly nobody.

With a grin, Senneresta hovered into the city. The suns had set now, and except for a few stragglers, the streets were empty. She appreciated this time of the day. There was silence. Peace. Thoughts could simmer. Memories of her past could peep from their burrows, sometimes long enough for her to catch a vague motherly face, or the scratch of Dad's stubbly chin when he kissed her. But these memories were fickle; with the slightest provocation, the slightest mismove, they'd go back into hiding. Senneresta returned to the present, casually navigating between white-washed buildings and down dim alleys. The rig of junk glided effortlessly behind her, mimicking the landspeeder's swift turns and sharp banks.

At the end of a particularly dark street, just around the corner of a dilapidated storage garage, there sat a building covered in grime and the scribbled markings of a dozen or so nearby star systems. As was her custom when encountering writing, Senneresta promised herself to become literate someday. At the very least, it would mean not having to pay a reader when making certain transactions. She parked. The building's door opened, revealing a figure half her height and twice her width.

Senneresta discreetly readied her blaster as she got out to meet him.

"Erkin," the figure said in a voice that sounded the way puke looked.

Senneresta shrugged.

"You have no name, young lady? Or are you shy?" He laughed. "No matter, no matter. What does the young lady bring tonight?"

Without taking her eyes off this Erkin fellow, Senneresta moseyed to the rig. She undid the tarp and motioned for him to come over, all without a word. Scavengers let their work speak for itself.

The figure nodded at the cache. "Mhmm." He picked and prodded at random. "Hmm. Very nice, very nice."

"Three thousand," Senneresta said.

"Two-twenty."

She chewed her lip. "Two-eighty."

"The young lady needs to learn proper business etiquette, coming around at this hour." Erkin caressed her hip with his chubby digits.

She fought the urge to cringe, to show weakness. She flashed the tip of the blaster. "Thirty-five, or I walk."

"Ah, I like your style." He reached into the rig and pulled out an oscillator. Chin raised, he held it up to what little light poured out from his doorway before tossing is back. "Unfortunately I've no use for garbage, young lady."

"I hear the Jawas pay handsomely for garbage."

Erkin shook his head. "Fine, fine-"

Something behind them crashed to the ground.

Erkin fled inside and shut the door. Instinctively, Senneresta dropped to her knees and spun around, taking aim at random. A metal can lay in the sand, its lid still rolling across the street. She held her breath, observing every shadow. Listening to the silence. Steadying the blaster in her trembling grip.

Was this an ambush? Erkin wouldn't've been the first dealer to resort to underhanded tactics. She was too good to have walked into a trap, though. The signs would've been obvious a light-year away.

She swallowed. "Come out. I know you're there."

". . . I mean no harm, woman," said a deep voice from somewhere near the can.

"Come out!"

A humanoid shadow stretched toward her. It looked unarmed, but she couldn't take the chance. She tensed. Her finger hugged the blaster's trigger. After what seemed like an eternity, a man emerged. Black clothing darker then the night draped him. His skin was milky, too-hardly the color of somebody in the suns all day. Must've been wealthy. Or an off-worlder.

Either way, he didn't belong here.

Senneresta lowered her guard. "Turn around and raise your hands."

"I'm not going to hurt you-"

"If you value living, do as I say."

The man complied. Senneresta put away her weapon, then marched toward him. She patted him from top to bottom. His outfit was thin, loose-fitting. Probably designed to move quickly. A thief, perhaps? He had muscle. So his suit probably saw a lot of use. At his waist there was something hard. She clenched it.

"That's nothing," the man said.

She took it out. A light saber. Damn_._ She'd seen one of these once. "You're one of those Jedi knights?"

"No."

"Then what am I holding?" She chuckled. "Unless you mean to tell me you killed a Jedi and stole this from his corpse."

"Can I lower my arms, please?"

Senneresta grudgingly put his valuable light saber back. _Best not to mess with Jedi_. That was another scavenger rule. Not that the chances of encountering one were statistically likely, considering the sheer amount of occupied worlds in the Galaxy.

Jedi or not, though, he was still foreign scum.

"Can I _please_ lower my arms? I have a proposition to make."

A proposition? She had to play cool. ". . . Yeah, sure."

The man sighed and faced her.

"The offer," she said.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for sparing my life." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I owe you, woman - uh, what did you say your name was?"

"The offer," she repeated with thin lips.

The man blinked. "Right. Um," he rubbed his forehead and glanced at his feet, then back up to her, "I need transport. I've been watching you for the past day now-"

"I'd've known if that was the case."

"Right." He gulped. "Well, anyway, you seem to know how to handle yourself. And, and certain individuals are chasing me. Let's just say I need to get out of the city as quickly as possible. Can you offer safe passage?"

Senneresta knew better than to dig too deeply with questions. Another scavenger rule: _Better to be dumb than dead_. "I can take you anywhere you want for the right price."

"Oh, I fully expect to reimburse you for your services. Name the amount."

". . . Five thousand."

"Of course." He presented her with a credit chip. "There's actually six thousand on this. Consider the extra as a token of my appreciation."

She tried not to smile as returned to the landspeeder. She ran it through a check. Six thousand and fifty-two, to be exact. She pocketed it. "Alright," she called to him. "Hop in."

#

(Not finished yet.)


End file.
